Amish and LEOs

This is a discussion on Amish and LEOs within the Off Topic & Humor Discussion forums, part of the The Back Porch category; Thinking about the school shooting:
Do the Amish have their own "police"? How do they handle interactions with police? I know they handle a lot ...

Amish and LEOs

Thinking about the school shooting:
Do the Amish have their own "police"? How do they handle interactions with police? I know they handle a lot of "punishment" through the church, but what about other stuff?

I live here in Lancaster, and in my profession I deal with Amish regularly. Theyre very conservative, and more then likely when your called to an Amish family it really is an emergency! They do not have there own police, State police responded to that, most amish contry is under state police simply based on where they live. Overall every incounter Ive had as been a pleasent one. You just have to remember they have diffrent outlooks on things and in turn deal with things a bit diffrently.

My wife and I once managed a farm and bed & breakfast in upstate New York. There are many Amish up in that area and we used an Amish "contractor" to build a building. Interesting people, indeed.

Once, when speaking to a local farmer about what I needed to know to work with them, he had told me that he once had a number of small tools and such disappear from his barn. He started watching closely and one night caught an Amish neighbor stealing from him. He called the sheriff's department, a deputy arrived, investigated and then took the guy to the local head of the church. The church took it from there. I'm not sure about how they would have handled a serious crime, I would assume he would be taken to jail like anyone else. But simple theft was dealt with very harshly within the church.

All of the stolen items (mostly small tools and such) were returned to the farmer and the Amish thief was "removed" from the area. Appears Amish justice is swift....

BigE410, off topic, but, considering the shooting victims went by ambulance to the hospital, how do they, in general, handle modern medicine?

I had a Amish guy with his older (21-23 year old)kids redo a barn roof for me this summer, tremendous people with a very good work ethic. Polite, to all especially their parents, yes they have a sense of humor, and enjoy occasional junk food. I picked them up each day to give them a ride to my place, and we stopped for ice cream on the way home (my treat).
Now to your question. I was related a story of a 15 year old Amish boy (By the Dad name of Levi) he had been hauling the mess from a pig poop often refereed to as a "Honey wagon". The kid was using a team of horses and was letting them pull at their own gate when upon the last load he was gong down a hill and became a run away team. By the time he grabbed the reigns it was too late. He tired to slow them down by heading for a wooded area, ended up crashing into a tree. The load of "Honey" several hundred gallons of shifted in the big drum and severed one of his legs.
They hospitalized the lad and at present are having him fitted with a high tech artificial leg. So yes they use the medical system and it's resources, just is they pay out of pocket.

In the Blizzard of '78 I lived in Greensburg IN. I was born in '77 and don't remember if the blizzard took place in late '78 or early '78. If it was early I was only a couple of months old; if late, I was a year and a few months. At any rate, I was an infant.

My parents were renting a house in the country. We lost power, and with it heat. My parents put me under several blankets and the dogs got up on the bed with me. Turns out they overdid it as I ended up sweating :) But you could say I was partly raised by dogs... :D

At any rate, when the snow stopped my parents found that they were still without power, had drifts at least one story high, and had no telephone nor way into town (the county later had to clear the roads with bulldozers because the snowplows couldn't do it).

Then, very shortly after the snow stopped, they heard small bells. Amish to the rescue! They had brought sleighs out to help us, and I'm sure, many others in the area. We were transported to one of their homes and stayed there for the duration.

I wish I could remember that time. It's a classic "SHTF" scenario as well as right up my ally in adventurous danger. As is, I still have an impression of laying in a (crib? bed? what?) with the smell of fire in the hearth, good food smells, and an overall feeling of comfort and coziness.

As I said, impressions, not thoughts. I was too young for those I think. But it was quite an experience.

Some will tell you that the Amish have as little to do with outsiders as possible. That may be true for certain regions, but as I understand it, these Amish neighbors were our friends before and after the blizzard, and as we lived in Greensburg until I was three, I can tell you that I played with Amish youngsters as well as "modern" children. I do not know if we talked; I don't remember that part so I can't verify/deny them not learning English until they're older.

I likely owe my life to the Amish, and that's not a debt that is easily forgotten. I've thought many times of driving down to see them, but my dad has always talked me out of it, citing the amount of time which has passed and the fact that the kids, now adults, who have likely mostly taken over the community, wouldn't remember me and the adults are a bunch of near-senior citizens now.

I can see his logic.

One thing I've never understood though: I can understand them not liking violence; I don't like it either. But one would think they would keep a flinter around for deer and such, or to keep the coyotes out of the chicken coop.

As I understand it the Amish, and Mennonites to a lesser extent, avoid using technology that simply makes life easier. They are trying to avoid the rapid technological change that could endanger their culture.

For example an Amish doctor may have access to a car, possibly owned by the group as a whole. He would only use the car to do things that couldn't be done any other way, like get to an injured person quickly or drive someone to a far away hospital for a test or something.

They will use technology to do things that can't be done another way, but won't use it just to make life easier.

The Amish I used to do my barn own a van but do not dive it, they pay someone else to do that when they need to go someplace as a group. Also there is the one down by Middlebury that owns a large farm in I believe Brazil, N flies down there to manage it during the winter here.

Where I grew there were Mennonites (quite a few actually) not far away and they had cars and pickups, but they were all black. They wore clothes a lot like amish and had VERY nice farm equipment. These here did not have businesses except selling baked goods, etc. Very nice people and excellent baked goods.